President Donald Trump, in a shift, has begun voicing some doubts about Republicans’ chances in the midterm elections as he heads to Nebraska Monday to rally for Sen. Pete Ricketts in yet another red state stop.

Confidence is a hallmark of the 80-year-old chief executive’s presidential persona, so his willingness to acknowledge he and other top Republicans are “worried” about a number of races is uncharacteristic. But during exchanges with reporters in the Oval Office, and at campaign stops in Texas, Oklahoma and Ohio, he has done just that.

During a stop in Denton, Texas, on Friday, Trump called “affordability” a “phony” word concocted by Democrats for purely political reasons. But he also called lingering inflation “very real” and said his party has to find a way to explain it, just weeks before Election Day.

“But they’re the ones that caused the inflation. I’m the one that’s bringing it down, and we have to be able to get that word out — somehow — because they’re using the word affordability,” Trump said, looking down and shaking his head.

“And what they say, ‘Yes, but affordability,’ and everyone thinks that the prices are high because of me, but they’re not,” he claimed.

The Bureau of Labor Statistics’ August Consumer Price Index showed the cost of goods up 0.4 percent in August. According to the American Automobile Association, the national average price of a gallon of unleaded gasoline on Monday stood at $4.37 and diesel was at $6.32, compared to $3.13 (unleaded) and $3.69 (diesel) one year ago.

After bad weather forced him to travel from Denton to Durant, Okla., by motorcade — sometimes reaching 98 mph on wet roadways, according to a pool reporter traveling with him — Trump was blunt about his read of the the coming elections.

“I feel a little foolish, you know. I’m saying, ‘Go out and vote, go out and vote.’ You’re gonna, they’re gonna win in the last half, but still go out and vote,” Trump said during an Oklahoma rally for Republican gubernatorial nominee Mike Mazzei. “We’re worried about Michigan. We’re worried about Texas. We’re worried about a few states.”

He told the crowd there were as many as 40 races he was “worried” about, saying the GOP needed to “get the word out.” He again pleaded with Republican voters to make the race a referendum on him: “So you have to pretend I’m on the ticket and turn out for a midterm victory that’s really too big to rig.”

Trump will try doing so again Monday when he campaigns in the heavily Republican Cornhusker State, where Ricketts also has a cash advantage but is in a “Lean R” race, according to Inside Elections with Nathan L. Gonzales.

‘Make sure’

When asked about his travel, Trump has been unclear about reasons for his focus on Republican states.

“Well, I won all of them by a lot,” he told reporters Friday during a gaggle as he left the White House. “I’m going there just to make sure.”

He also has questioned the reasons for a political trend that goes back decades: that the party in power typically suffers setbacks in congressional midterm elections.

“For whatever reason, I don’t understand it, nobody does, nobody’s been able to explain it. Whoever wins the presidency, Republican or Democrat, automatically does poorly in the midterms. I don’t know why, you know that, but we shouldn’t (lose),” he said in an exchange with reporters in the Oval Office on Wednesday.

He also has begun offering justifications should Democrats do well.

“The only thing we (Republicans) don’t have is good public relations. We don’t seem to be able to get the word across that we have more people working than ever before,” he told reporters. “We have the best job numbers than ever before, and we don’t get the word across and that’s because the press doesn’t want us to get the word across.”

But that doesn’t mean the bravado is totally gone.

During a Saturday evening rally near Dayton, Ohio — where former Democratic Sen. Sherrod Brown is giving GOP Sen. Jon Husted a tough race — it was back.

“I think we’re going to have a big surprise, because they don’t know what’s happening,” he told supporters. “Just get out and vote. If you do that, we’re going to win, and we’re going to win big. And we’re going to shove it up their ass.”

Still, like he has done several times about Ken Paxton, the Texas attorney general who is the GOP nominee for outgoing Sen. John Cornyn’s seat, Trump implored voters to set aside any negative feelings they might have about the party’s Buckeye State candidates.

“Even if you hate Jon Husted, even if you hate Vivek Ramaswamy,” he said, also referring to the party’s gubernatorial candidate. “You’re gonna go out, you’re gonna vote, and then you’re gonna pull their triggers.”

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